The Power of Prayer

Samuel I. Prime

5. One Prayer-Meeting - The House And Rooms - The Business In Hand - Requests For Prayer - News Abroad - The President - From Philadelphia - The Son And Mother - An Answer - Three Sisters - Six Children.

We will now give a brief outline of one meeting, not an unusual one, but such as hundreds of our meetings have been. We might take any one, and it would be a sample of all the others. We do not mean that the exercises are always alike, and always equally interesting; they vary in some particulars, and the incidents of the meetings are always unlike, and give great effect to the spirit of the meeting.

There are three lecture-rooms at the rear of the North Dutch Church, as it is called, one above another, making first, second, and third storeys. All these are comfortably and closely seated; each has a pulpit or desk of its own. The entrances to these lecture-rooms are from Fulton and Ann streets; each room has a clock, and all the appliances of a meeting by itself.

We take our seat in the middle lecture-room fifteen minutes before twelve noon. A few ladies are seated in a row of seats in one corner; a few gentlemen are scattered here and there through the room; all is quiet and silent; no talking, no whispering; all has the air of deep solemnity.

At ten minutes before twelve, businessmen begin to come in rapidly. Ministers and laymen, all are seated promiscuously together, there is no distinction, except in respect to strangers; they are treated with attention and respect, and there are always some to see that they have comfortable seats.

Five minutes before twelve, the leader for the day passes in, and takes his seat in the desk. He is a business man; he has never led before, and a new one will come in his place tomorrow. All his movements are quick and rapid; he seems impressed with the importance of the moment, but seems of not the least importance himself. Two minutes to twelve, the room is packed to its utmost capacity. Many are standing in the hall, unable to get in.

At twelve noon, precisely to a minute, the chairman rises and gives out that beautiful hymn:

Blow ye the trumpet, blow,
The gladly solemn sound;
Let all the nations know,
To earth’s remotest bound,
The year of jubilee is come.
Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.

The leader then calls on all to unite with him in prayer. His prayer is short, exactly to the point; he prays for the Holy Spirit, for the quickening of Christians, for the conversion of sinners here present at this very hour, for the spread of the revival, for the perishing thousands all around us.

Then he reads the seventeenth chapter of John. A word of comment while he stands with slips of paper in his hand. There is a little sea of up-turned, solemn faces. A deep stillness pervades the assembly. These are businessmen, and they address themselves to the great business before them. Oh, what a moment!

‘I will read four or five of these requests, and will call on someone to follow immediately in prayer, remembering these cases.’ He reads:

‘A sister in Massachusetts desires prayers for a brother seventy years of age,’ etc.

‘A brother for a sister in Pennsylvania,’ etc.

‘A mother who has attended these meetings and thinks she has been benefited, desires prayer for a large family,’ etc.

‘I judge’, said the leader, ‘that this mother has lately found peace in believing.’

‘A gospel minister sends a very urgent request for four brothers to be remembered in prayer, that they may be converted, and that they, too, may become preachers of the “glorious gospel of the blessed God”‘.

‘From Philadelphia, for a brother and sister who are trying to be earnest seekers after the grace of God.’

‘Now,’ says the leader, ‘will someone lead in prayer?’

Prayer was offered by a clergyman. When this prayer was concluded, which was very short and in reference to the specific cases before the meeting, a gentleman arose in the back part of the room and begged the prayers of all present for himself and his sister. Prayer immediately followed.

Then all sang one verse of the hymn,

Jesus — my Saviour and my Lord.

A gentleman from St Louis now arose and addressed the meeting with great animation.

‘We have heard of this meeting by the mouth of those who have been here with you. We have heard of you through the religious and secular papers, and we have heard from you by means of the telegraph. Who would have thought of this last as a channel of communication in regard to this great work of salvation? And yet, how did our hearts, away in St Louis, rejoice to be told by telegraph, of what the Lord was doing for you here in New York. Oh, what a bond of union was opened between us. I cannot tell how we are cheered and encouraged by what we hear from you every week. We look along the columns of our religious papers, and especially of those which come from your city, and you cannot tell how eagerly we gather up the revival intelligence which comes from this meeting, and how we are encouraged by it.

We rejoice at the high ground you have taken here, and as you elevate your standard, so other places will elevate theirs. The work of grace has been wonderful among us, and especially among the colored churches in St Louis. We have such churches, and they have colored educated pastors — able men, and sound and thoroughly orthodox preachers of the gospel — and they have their Sunday schools, and day schools, and their children are taught to read. It is against the law, that is true, but the law that forbids teaching a colored child to read, in St Louis, is a dead letter. We want to hear from you, to hear from this meeting, every week. We ask for a kindly remembrance in your prayers.

Another speaker followed. He was a venerable, fine-looking gentleman. We know not who he was, but took him to be an old thrifty merchant. He spoke of our having had signal answers to prayer, and referred to some signal recent cases. He then spoke of the importance of praying for our rulers, our judges, and all in authority. He spoke especially of the gratifying fact, that when President Buchanan was at the Bedford Springs, he attended daily upon the prayer-meetings with most exemplary and respectful attention. And why should we not pray, said he, for Mr Buchanan? Why not send up our prayers to God that he may be a true Christian? When the righteous rule, the earth rejoices. When the wicked rule, the people mourn. As he was resuming his seat, the leader invited him to lead in prayer for the objects he had named. He rose again, and poured out a fervent prayer for President Buchanan by name, in a manner of the utmost respect for him, his character and office; but for him, as a sinner like ourselves, needing an interest in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ; for him as needing the wisdom that cometh from above to guide and assist him in his arduous duties, and under his great responsibilities; for him, whose evening days were coming, and who needed a well-grounded hope of heaven. There was a remarkable propriety in this prayer which touched a chord in every heart.

It is now twenty minutes to one pm. How the moments fly! Time on swift, noiseless wings is passing.
The leader stands with slips of paper in his hand. These have been going up to the desk as the meeting progressed.

‘I have several more of these to read,’ says he. He reads:

‘A lady requests prayer for a profane father and his numerous family.’

‘A church in Dutchess County, that they may not be passed by in this day of salvation.’

‘A church in Keene, N.H., where a few mercy-drops have fallen, asks prayer for the plentiful shower.’

‘Prayer for a young lady.’

‘Prayer for two brothers, sons of a deceased pastor of one of our Dutch Reformed churches.’

And last, but not least, ‘Prayer is asked of the Fulton street prayer-meeting by a daughter of a missionary who died upon a foreign shore, for a brother, unconverted, that he may become a Christian, and if it be the will of God, that he may be prepared to take the place of his father in the ministerial office, and in the missionary work.’

An earnest prayer for these by the gentleman from St Louis. Then one verse of the hymn:

All hail the power of Jesus’ name, Let angels prostrate fall.

Oh, what a power in that ever-precious name. All hearts here seem to feel it, as they sing with united hearts and voices.

Time passes on apace, and we seem to have much yet to do. Several rise to speak. A Philadelphian gets the floor, and tells, in a few brief words, of the wonderful work of grace going on still in that city; now truly a sister city; a city of brotherly love. All the prayer-meetings are filling up. God pours out his Spirit afresh. All are animated with new hope and zeal. We are expecting a great refreshing from on high. Then he made some brief and impressive statements of the state of things in the prayer-meetings at Jaynes’ Hall, the hose-houses, the big tent; the conversion of the firemen; the combination and earnestness of the ministry; the preaching of the gospel in unwonted places; the crowds that flock together to hear; the activity of the Young Men’s Christian Association; and of the encouragement we all have from the accounts we receive from New York. ‘Pan passu,’ said the speaker, ‘we go along with you.’
A leading hardware merchant made some observations of a very earnest character, in regard to the kind of action to be adopted by the 50,000 professors of religion in this city, fitted to reach the 1,000,000 in this city, resident, or who come here to do business from the surroundings, or from abroad. The great point is, for each one to take one individual or a family under his special supervision, and endeavour to lead them to Christ.

Very brief prayer follows for all the objects. A verse was sung, and a man arose and said:

When a person presents a request for prayer, and that prayer is answered, he felt it to be a duty to communicate the fact for the encouragement of the meeting. He said that he presented a request here some six weeks ago, that God would bless his efforts to establish a prayer-meeting at a place in the country, where he was about to spend a season. ‘The first week we had about twenty in attendance, second week about thirty, third week about forty, and last week about one hundred. The meetings have all been very solemn and interesting. There was much deep emotion in the audience. Many were affected to tears, and the Holy Spirit was evidently operating on the hearts of the unconverted.’

One said he felt timid on this matter of so many requests being sent here for prayer. ‘I am afraid of this,’ said he; ‘I am afraid of spiritual pride. I am afraid the Spirit of God will leave us. I have my misgivings about all this. Every request read here is a dagger to my heart.’

Another arose and said, ‘Oh, do not discourage these requests for prayer. Where would my son have been had it not been for your prayers? I have followed him around the globe with mine. He lately came home from sea unconverted. I brought his case right here. I said, “Men of Israel, help.” I wanted you to help me pray for him. I knew you would not do anything for him but pray. God must do all the work. He must bow that stubborn will, and humble that proud heart. Oh! what cause of thankfulness and joy I have, that God hears and answers prayer. That son is today a new creature in Christ Jesus, as I humbly trust, and to him be all the glory. Do not feel tried with the coming of these requests for prayer. Oh! no! no! Let us rejoice that they do come. But let them pray who send them to this prayer-meeting. Let the language of all the hearts in this assembly be, “The power belongeth unto God.” “Turn us, 0 Lord, as the streams of the South.” Let us pray for all who ask us to pray, believing, trusting, hoping, and humbling ourselves low before God.’

A clergyman said he was accosted in the street by a stranger a short time since. He was concerned for his salvation, and had been for some time. He had been to the Fulton street and the John street meetings a great many times, but could obtain no peace. He said at the Fulton street meetings he would watch to see who took an active part, and then the next day he would get a seat beside them, hoping they would say something to him. But all in vain. No man seemed to care for him. ‘One day a request was put in by a mother for a son. It struck me that that was from my mother. After meeting I got sight of that request. And sure enough, it was from my mother, in her own handwriting. She cared for me.’

A youth sent in a request to be prayed for sometime ago; and again to-day a request that we would give thanks to God that he had found Christ precious to his soul. The leader said he knew this young man, and hoped he would be here himself to tell what the Lord had done for him. After a little time he came in and arose and said that he had requested an interest in the prayers of this meeting; and 0, what a change! How was his darkness turned into light, and his sorrow to joy. He called upon all to praise God for the great change. This young man in his boyhood had been a member of a class in the Sunday school connected with this church, and his teacher, who had not seen him for years, was here to meet him to-day.

A gentleman said he met a teller of one of our city banks, who felt greatly concerned for the salvation of those three sisters unconverted. He presented a request at one of our Fulton street prayer-meetings, on behalf of those three sisters, from the brother, asking us to pray for their immediate conversion. ‘And now I am here to say that those three sisters are rejoicing in the pardoning love of Jesus, and are rejoicing with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.’

A praying mother died a short time since, leaving six unconverted children. The last of those six children was converted a short time ago. ‘I am’, said the speaker, ‘one of those six children; and I am that last one!’

The time was up; what a brief hour, a heavenly place; the minutes had fled on the wings of prayer and praise, and the precious season was over.

This is but a sketch of one of the many meetings in Fulton street and other places in this city.